Oh everyone wants to hate this game so much, its so easy too. This is Konami's cash grab after their disgraceful handling of Kojima and his team. This is a betrayal of Kojima and all he built with Metal Gear. And why take the premier action stealth game and make a random survival game out of it. Well look, if you want to take a stand for Kojima go ahead. I just wanted to play a game that so happened to use the engine and mechanics of what I believe to be the best third person game of all time mechanically. After putting over 30 hours into it I can easily say this is a good game, anyone shitting on it either just doesn't want to play a game like this or is talking shit for attention.

This is a survival game in that you have to gather resources, eat food, drink water, build a base, manage items and shit like that. Sounds horrible but its not, its a Japanese action game version of that style of game I generally don't like. Also there was this horrible misconception that this was some coop online only game, which is as far from the truth as you can get. THIS IS A GIGANTIC SINGLE PLAYER GAME. It eases you into every single gameplay mechanic and survival system so that everything is understandable. It flows like a normal action adventure game with mission after mission of new goals and gameplay ideas constantly being introduced. At first yes it feels like all you do is lay down fences and poke boring zombies with a spear. Give it a few hours and you will be fighting super jumping, whirlwind kicking assholes with shotguns, bows, grenades, C4, generally all the usual MGS toys you get to play with. Its still MGS5 at its core, the gameplay mechanics remain incredible. There is no other survival game that feels this good to play.

To round it off you still get a ridiculously stupid but fun MGS like story with epic cutscenes and setpieces. I enjoyed the twists and turns, its shallow so this is no Kojima script rife with social commentary, its just a silly sci fi story and it works. I stayed engaged for the full 25 hours the single player campaign lasts. The highlights were base defenses where you have to build defenses using fences, mounted guns, walker gear and traps and hold your ground for 5 to 15 minutes as waves and waves of enemies attack. The final levels get crazy, it really feels like a zombie invasion movie.

I found the progression to be great, every hour I gained a new level and skill. I found some new weapon or gear to mess with. I explored a new region of the map which allowed me to find new loot that expanded my base. I found new enemies, found hidden music cassettes, found new side missons and so on. It nails the addictive quality of the loot game with a solid gameplay base.

The issues I have with the MG Survive is mostly the barren post game and how it never really breaks free from the confines of its established gameplay situations. MGS is a series known for its wild gameplay variety, surprises all the time but this game gets repetitive. Its a lot of running around, activating warp points and defending shit over and over. It could have used unique bosses (which inexplicably appear in the post game, only two though).

The post game ends all the main story missions, no new areas to explore and nothing really of value added outside the few bosses. Instead the focus is to just mount base defenses which only happen once a day in real time. It makes an appointment so if you actually miss it your base will be attacked without you leaving it up to whatever CPU defenses you put up. I once missed my 10pm base attack and returned to see almost everything I built destroyed. Its a stupid, grindy, pay to win style post game which tries to get you to spend money on points which can magically remove the time constraints and give you double exp. The other focus becomes coop which with where the best gear and actual hard content is. Also your characters skill tree expands greatly into four new categories with all kinds of new special skills which were totally absent for the entire game. The coop missions come in one type (base defense) and three levels, clearly not the most fleshed out of modes. I got sick of all of it rather quickly, I don't see the point.

The game was fun until it ran out of steam and good ideas. Its a solid game, there is NO NEED to pay for any of the dlc, its very much playable until the post game with no fuss. The gear and loot is a lot of fun to mess around with, progression is very well done. This is a fun interesting game, it just so happens to have Metal Gear in the title and for bursts it feels like a crazy MGS game. If the concept intrigues you there is a good game in there.

I just can't bring myself to give a company like Konami any of my money, even if they actually put something decent out. They've literally become the worst company in gaming, beyond EA...they're just not as big so they don't get as much hate.
IMO it sends the wrong message supporting these guys. You're telling them it's OK to not give your fans what they want, to rip people off, to screw over long time employees etc.
Moreover, I've never cared much for Metal Gear online. So adding zombies to it like every other game nowadays is whatever.